Man convicted of flashing in Penticton released on bail in Vernon

An Okanagan man with a history of exposing himself to children has been released on bail in Vernon after he was arrested for breaching a court-ordered curfew.

Today, March 5, at the Vernon courthouse Judge Dennis Morgan released David Ernest Friesen on bail to wait for a future court date on two charges of breaching his probation by failing to comply with a curfew.

All details from the bail hearing are prohibited under a court-ordered publication ban. While Friesen's other crimes occurred in Penticton, court documents say he breached his curfew in February in Vernon.

Friesen has a long troublesome history and has a lifetime ban on visiting public parks and playgrounds as well as places where a person under 16 years of age might be found.

In 2009, he was given a conditional discharge for an assault on a 14-year-old autistic boy.

In June 2019, Judge Gregory Koturbash said Friesen needed to be institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital but he did not have the power to order that. Instead, Judge Koturbash ordered Friesen, who was homeless at the time, to be put under 24-hour house arrest following his release from jail until suitable accommodation could be made for him and he could be fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

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